Just got wind of this New York Times breaking story from Chris Hayes on MSNBC:
WASHINGTON — In the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests, according to former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.
The inquiry carried explosive implications. Counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr. Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence.
The investigation the F.B.I. opened into Mr. Trump also had a criminal aspect, which has long been publicly known: whether his firing of Mr. Comey constituted obstruction of justice.
Agents and senior F.B.I. officials had grown suspicious of Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening an investigation into him, the people said, in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude. But the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s firing in May 2017, particularly two instances in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry, the people said.
www.nytimes.com/…
It is somewhat reassuring to know that the FBI has been asking the right questions.
There have been so many shocking abandonments of protocol since Trump fired Comey back in 2017, that it’s easy to forget just how outrageous those couple of days were. Remember? Kislyak and Lavrov and Trump yucking it up in the Oval Office the very day after Trump fired Comey. It was jaw-droppingly suspect, like a poorly written spy novel.
If I had to guess, I would say yes, Trump has been turned by the Russians.
Update 1: Many commenters wondering whatever became of this investigation. Is it still underway? Well, jamess found this:
The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, took over the inquiry into Mr. Trump when he was appointed, days after F.B.I. officials opened it. That inquiry is part of Mr. Mueller’s broader examination of how Russian operatives interfered in the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates conspired with them. It is unclear whether Mr. Mueller is still pursuing the counterintelligence matter, and some former law enforcement officials outside the investigation have questioned whether agents overstepped in opening it.
www.nytimes.com/...